Thanks. Sorry to be alarmist but stuff like this ticks me off to no end, regardless of what the business is.
These guy just switched the service. I sign in perhaps a couple times a month. No notification in email. No warning. Just sign in one day and it says 'DDF Has Moved. You will now be redirected to pornworld' -- what you get directed to is just a very generic-looking pay per view storefront with plain-looking menu that just has thumbnails and looks like those free sites like xhamster. No notice about what it is, how to use it, or a mention that you have to pay for things you watch.
And no customer service about your old account, what happened to it, how to stop the charges etc...just a pissy reply to an inquiry-- 'we dont know anything about the site. We are a pay-per-view network and unfortunately I cannot assist you with your subscription to another website."
I sent another email earlier asking for someone to please tell me how to cancel the existing DDF subscription charge. That is my biggest concern--stopping that and making sure no more monthly charges. Will advise when and if I get a response.
I think for the most part everyone now is focused on quantity because that's what drives the market today. Charging a higher rate means you need to keep putting out more updates to justify it and keep customers around. But the result is that quality suffers and takes a back seat to aggressive production schedules.
And what you end up with is what a site like Brazzers is today--a gaggle of identical surgically enhanced soccer-ball breasts and large cocks, all packaged up into very repetitive and mundane content that is pushed out at breakneck speed. Boredom is the order of the day. And that is really the best way to describe this site--boring.
Anything else I would offer would be negative and wouldn't provide much I already didn't opine. I really have little positive to say other than those four items I noted.
Yes I suspect the prevalence of Free Porn has created serious market pressures.
I am not cheap and it's not having to pay more for a subscription that irks me. Eventual price increases on goods and services is a fact of life. The issue I have is with the 'sneaky' approach to going about adding such price increases. Just be up front with it. A site like Brazzers is high quality and one of the few sites that I have any interest in. I have no problem paying a higher rate. But I don't like feeling taken advantage of with tricks.
To be fair, the fine print somewhere probably did indicate the rate policy and the extra fee required for downloads. But it probably was tucked away in the very fine small-print.
But it still makes you feel like you are being toyed with. You sign up in good faith for a subscription of $29/month just like old times. Browse around a little to see something that catches your eye. Then you go to download something to watch later. Then you get this:
"Dear valued customer. Your current access does not allow downloads. Please click the Upgrade button for a list of options." At this point you realize you have to upgrade and pay another $14.99 to be able to download anything.
You mutter a couple cuss words at the screen-- &^#@ *# *&$^%#*%$#
Again, it's not about the fee. It's about the sneaky factor.
And this leads to the second pet-peeve--'pre-checked' boxes. Not just one but a couple and they are at various locations on the screen. Before you click the 'Complete Transaction' button it behooves people to review everything very carefully or you might unknowingly have also subscribed to some off-the-wall third-party sites like 'Corn-Holed Grannies' or 'Fisting Midgets'.
I got a response from the help desk finally. They said it is fixed but it is still not working. I cleared the cache like they said then logged back in. It worked for one click to get inside a menu. Then it went back to kicking me out the first time I tried to click on any item.
I cancelled the account. Unfortunately, I have it on a three-month subscription from a discount so have two months left I can't use at this time.
The site isn't bad for content, if you can get to it. But the menu system is quirky and they have some odd security system that does this. I have subscribed to adult sites in the past. Things like this never happened.
The most recent images are roughly 2000 x 1328. The most recent full HD vids are in the 2gig range for MPEG format. Not sure about bit rate. Don't know enough about videos to supply this. I can say, however, the videos are fluid and not choppy when viewed in the browser. Again, I am not much into videos. But even these are higher in quality than I have seen elsewhere. They just have a pop on the screen I have not seen from other videos. It is eye-popping.
But again, for me, it's all about the detail and quality. Regardless of what the specs are, I would rather see a high-quality image at 800x600 than a large 4000x2000 image that is sub-par and poorly taken ,with bad llighting. That is what I value the most.
Hi. I understand what you mean. I don't take it as trying to pick a fight. I just provide points I think the average person would be interested in. I could add more comments but it would just be for the sake of adding more comments. I don't think it would be of much use to anyone. Really, what my review is saying is that, in my humble opinion, for those interested in photography and professional-grade production, this is about as good as you will come across in terms of quality of content, etc...
The full HD videos also are as good as I have ever seen in terms of the eye-popping quality. I really haven't seen clearer and more detailed videos from an online service--whether it is netflex or bangbros. To me, the detail and professional quality of the material is outstanding.
The user interface is as good as others. very simple and easy to use. DL speeds are very high. I never had issues with timing out or locking up. Now, whether or not people enjoy the actual content is entirely subjective. Everyone has their own interests and tastes in erotic content.
I really am not thinking about drawing attention to the site or trying to sway opinion by scoring it a 99. The thought never crossed my mind. I am just calling it like I see it personally. To me, it is a near perfect site. Others may see it entirely differently, as some other review scores testify.
Well, I base my reviews on impressions. All I have to go by when forming the impressions is past experiences with other sites. Comparatively, it is the best site I have personally come across. I am not a real high powered user so my experiences are limited. I really find it to be as good as my score indicates. That doesn't mean it really is a 99 in an objective sense. That is just how I rate it. Others will see it different perhaps. Someone might not like the content or the camerawork isn't their style etc. but it is the closest to a perfect site as I have come across so far. My views may change if I come across something else in the future and I have a new baseline to judge things. As it exists now, though, this site is at the top of my current baseline. I honestly haven't seen anything better yet.
Well, this business makes it easy to do this. First of all, due to the sensitive nature of the material, a lot of consumers don't want anyone knowing their business. They are therefore less inclined to run to the bank to complain when they get ripped off. I believe some vendors will capitalize on this. I think that is the risk a consumer has to accept if they want to subscribe to online vendors in this arena. Eventually, you are likely to run across stuff that is not on the level.
I am going to say something here that might rub some people the wrong way. There is a pink elephant in the room that a lot of people know is there but few will admit its existence, especially the manfuactuers and producers. The Pink Elephant is this--Porn is going to involve a number of individuals who are not the most noble of characters when it comes to their approach to commerce. Some players will be tempted to stretch the limits and see how much they can get away with.
I certainly am not saying that everyone in the business is like this. But the anonymity I mentioned, the sensitive nature of things, etc is going to be a magnet for shady practices by some players. Most people in the industry I suspect will just look the other way, not wanting to rock the boat or police others.
Well, I noticed that when the upsells started last year, they began with just advertising them on the main page when you log in. The upsells then started showing up as scenes within specific site pages. If you click the scene and view it, you now have a monthly subscription to whatever site it belongs to. I was careful not to do this, but the way they it is structured, I can see a lot of people out there wondering what those extra monthly charges are on their credit card.
The thing that is scary is that there is no warning that you are about to subscribe. I intetionally signed up for the culuneros site because I wanted to add it. But when I clicked the scene link, there was no warning, no info about what was just charged, etc..It just went on as business as usual, but I could now access the site.
The monthly charge for the site was the same as the bangbros main site. So if people are not carefull or have twtichy fingers on the mouse, they are going to get popped and without warning that you just signed up for a monthly subscription.
The site planners probably said, 'Hey, not enough people are falling for the red pre-checked cross sell when they signed up. Let's mix the cross-sells in with the galleries and menus.'
Regarding actual content, I think what they are doing is just breaking off a lot of content that would normally appear at bangbros and creating new sites that you have to sign up for. For example, at culluneros, a lot of the models appear at bangbros but it looks like they saved a few scenes for this specific site. So if you are into that model, you would want to view the scene. There is nothing wrong with this strategy itself. It's the way they go about it that is dirty pool.
Thanks for the info and time to help. I appreciate it.
Actually, I have to call the number. It appears bangbros now does all their billing with the 1-800 number. When I call, they say they do not have any subscription to cancel and they know nothing about the site Cullineros. I do not have any accounts listed with the others and their support also says I do not have an account with them.
When trying to get info from the Cullineros site itself on how to cancel or get customer help, it all comes up in Spanish. They don't do that when you sign up and it is all in English when they are taking your money.
Well, what goes around comes around. You can't survive with that kind of business model. They will eventually self-destruct. They must really be hurting financially if they resort to this type of tactic. I would think the last thing you want to do in this business is get a bad reputation regarding trust.
Who knows what their plans are. I have no idea how the site is structured in terms of ownership. But they are headed in the wrong direction with games like this.
I also noticed that they took over their own billing. I signed up last year with CCBill but it got transferred to their internal setup. You have to call a number to cancel. Which also points to financial trouble. The reason you would want to do that is to avoid having to pay the processors like CCBill or Epoch to manage the accounts and billing. Others also complain about lack of 1080P downloads without upgrades.
Putting it all together, it sounds like a site that is in the red financially and is trying to find ways to cut corners, get more income, and get back into the green. They are doing it the wrong way, however.
Regardless, I think that the recent string of bad comments here would be fair warning to anyone who is considering dealing with this site. Obviously, it's more than me complaining. They cannot be trusted, from a survery of recent comments here.
Well, for a site owner with limited content to offer, it might be tempting to use such a strategy, thinking you could 'hook' users and they would pay to stay around so they can access the content. You could easily grab all the content at this site within a short period of time. It is not a high-volume site.
The problem is, the content is not THAT good that it will keep a lot of people around to view the remaining limited content that they couldn't get to during the period due to restrctions. It's not bad content, but not exactly a pot of gold.
Hi. Thanks. I just try to tell it like I see it. It is easy to write long-winded reviews on sites that rub you the wrong way as you are ticked off enough to vent about it.
Anyways, I wouldn't classify the entire site as junk, just the user experience and treatment. The content is actually fairly decent for this genre. I have seen better and I have seen worse. I suspect most people interested in this genre would come away with positive opinions if the site owners didn't play the games. Considering a magazine today costs somewhere around $15, paying $21 for a modest collection of BBW erotica is really not a bad deal. The owners just play games and hold back content, as mentioned in the review. It becomes obvious after a a little bit of time at the site what the owners are up to.
Well, I was evaluating the content as a stand-alone site. I have not subscribed to the other sites owned by the company. It makes sense they would have a seperate site devoted to the exotics and multi-ethnic models. To be honest and fair, however, I had to just go by what I saw at this particular site I was reviewing. As a subscriber to this site only, I think ethnic diversity was the only thing lacking for me.
Merging the exotics into the galleria site might actually draw in more long-term users who will stick around longer, IMO. Regardless, there is enough content at the Galleria site to keep someone busy for a long time.
I think a few models might be return subjects, but the majority just seemed to stick around for a while then dissapear. Most of the models are amateurs so I think they probably either move onto something else or just drop modeling altogether.
Thanks. I usually try to supply whatever info I can to try to help people get an honest opinion. In this case, there was only so much to supply and it is all negative. I honestly can't think of a positive.
I really feel bad for anyone who actually signed up on the 3 or 6 month plan. I just signed up for the 30 day and always do this as I will cancel it right away if I find it is not for me or not what was advertised. In this case, I got burned for $23. Certainly not the end of the world and it is much better than getting taken for $60 for the 3-month plan.
IMO, there should be something like a warning list that sites like this put together to let people know that people are reporting questionable practices or content. Sites certainly can't ban a site just because one person like me says so and I wouldn't expect them too.
I couldn't write anyone and demand money back because their is nobody to write. No customer service or contact info. I am partly to blamew. I should have paid more attention that this info was missing and with any business, I always like to know someone will field an inquiry.
It is technically difficult to call thease guys crooks as they did not falsely rerpresent what you will see at the site--busty amateurs. However, the total lack of qualtiy of the material and the problems with access is such that it is hard to not believe you were taken and that there is someone accepting the payment from CCBill and thinking, "Enjoy, sucker."
I could let CCBill know but obviously the sensitive nature of this and the stigma makes that unpalitable. What do you say? "The nude photos of boobs are mostly small images that are out of focus and grainy shit" ?
IMO, these kinds of vendors do a disservice to the legit vendors out there and gives the business a bad name. It also causes consumers to lose trust. It just reinforces the stereotype that some people hold that porn is run by crooked and unethical cretens looking for a quick dollar. I do not aggree with that opinion for the entire industry but regarding this vendor, it's hard not to make that judgement.
Thanks for the offer. I wouldn't bust your butt just over me, however. I can get to the afternoon Saturday show when I am inclined. I would think most people would prefer evening shows(After 6PM Local) on weekdays. But that is obviously hard to accomodate, given the diversity of memberships on different sides of the pond.
Maybe it is a just and fitting punishment, as the US Porn Industry is responsibile for starting the whole shaving craze in the 90's. Thankfuly, Europe never fell completely under this spell and kept their senses about them. :)
I just signed up recently, as well. I didn't pay much attention to the video content as that is not my area of interest.
As far as photo quality, I definately have seen examples where focus issues are present. I don't recall seeing any glaring exposure problems, however, and I am pretty anal about things like that. Then again, I ddin't go through every set.
For me, I don't really find the girls unattractive, I think it's just that they are not over-glamorized and elements such as makeup are kept in check so as not to detract from the natural theme of the site.I certainly wouldn't meet any of these girls on the street in person and think they were ugly. Most men would find them pretty if they walked by them on the street and passed them, IMO. I think we are just so used to seeing the heavily airbrushed and post-processed porn with heavy makeup and lipstick, lingerie, and heavy facial cake powder, that when we do come across models in porn that are not made up in this way, we tend to rate them as less attractive when compared to the pro studio standard of perfection. As an example, have you ever seen a news-babe off the set, without being under the soft, flattering lighting and without the professional broadcast studio makeup? The results are quite dramatic. They can look like totally different people and much more 'average.'
Sites like this are the anti-thesis of high fashioin nude glamour and are more about bare natural beauty, IMO. Seeing a glamorized model with fancy lingerie and makeup, sporting a full bush and underarm hair would be totally out of place, IMO.
Anyways, I am not arguing and don't mean to negate any opinions. Just offering a different perspective. Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder. However, if you come from a site like DDF or other glam sites to a site like this, I can see how one might be inclined to equate the lack of polish to a lack of beauty.
So far, I have no complaints. Questions are answered almost immediately on the forum at the site.
Regarding the focus issue with some image sets, after having looked around more, I found the issue does appear more often in older sets. Newer sets only have this issue sporadically. When these issues do appear, however, they are only usually a major distraction when viewing the image at full resolution. I think it is definitley a gear-related issue and not technique. Sometimes, the focus will be on the wall behind the model or its locking onto the models jewelry or some high contrast object in the scene. This is almost always due to the camera body being a limited point autofocus DSLR or a subpar lense with a squirelly focus drive, or the point bias not set correctly. The lenses also seem to not always be the sharpest. Something like a Canon L series lens will fix that up in a hurry. They are expensive but produce superb results. I have a 300 2.8 L series lens I use for wildlife and the lens is so sharp that you can pick out a fly on the back of a moose at 50 yards. They are that good.
Yes. I do like it. It is definately an excellant site. If there was more diversity in ethnic and model variety, I would categorize it as a truly exceptional site that would score a 100 in my eyes. I think that's the only thing it is lacking.
Obviously, this all depends on whether or not the content is for you. If someone isn't into this niche, they may rate it a 50.
I think the biggest problem is finding models. With the shift away from any hair in the 80's, not too many models are going to be willing to get into this niche and let things 'grow.'
Unfortunately, sometime in the 80's, the US Porn Industry decided it would define for everyone what represents attractive on the female body. At first, my thought as to why the shave craze took hold was that people suddenly decided that any hair on a female was just too masucline. However,this doesn't explain why even the guys in porn started shaving too--their crotch, their legs, even their pits. Somehow, for some reason, hair became contraband in the North American porn industry. After about 1990, Those of us who feel public hair(or, god forbid, an unshaved armpit) on a female can be erotic, were pushed out onto a fringe into the 'odd fetish niche ' category. Look at some porn review sites and see how something like Hairy Bush would be filed in the bizarre fetish category.
I also wanted to add that this is the first time I have been to a site where I can see myself staying around as a long-term subscriber, instead of downloading intersiting content during a one-month subscription period. The amount of updates and the web cam shows are incentive to stay. IMO, more sites should offer up such ammenities to give a cosnumer the incentive to continue on.
Yes. I actually signed up on 1/12. I went through this link here. I saw the charge as 24.95. I was not aware there was a discount so didn't even look. Oh well. Worse thing scan happen in life, I guess. Nothing I can do about it.
Protecting Minors We are strong supporters of RTA and ICRA, two of the most recognized self labeling organizations. Our site is properly labeled to assist in the protection of minors accessing inappopriate content. For information about filtering tools, check this site.
DISCLAIMER: ALL MODELS APPEARING ON THIS WEBSITE ARE 18 YEARS OR OLDER.
To report child pornography, go directly to ASACP! We're proud to be a corporate sponsor.
Have concerns or questions about porn addiction? We recommend this helpful resource.
